A - Very dark brown with red highlights. Light tan head that falls away.S - Nice roasted malts, dark fruit, toffee.T - Very roasty, cocoa, a little char. A little like a porter light.M/F - Medium body, carbonation a bit above average.D - Not an Oktoberfest but probably a winter fest bier. As that it is tasty and very enjoyable.

This bottled import from Germany pours a dark chocolate color with a modest light brown cover and a complete coat of lacing. The aroma is chocolatey coffee with some bitter smoke detected. The taste is a somewhat aqueous smooth blend of smoke and sweet coffee bitterness. Not a lot of carbonation, just a light tingle on the tongue. This seems fairly simple and very drinkable. Not sure what it has to do with an Octoberfest, not typical from my experience, but enjoyable enough, smooth and mild with some flavor.

Cool swing-top bottle. Dark but clear brown with a big tan head. Molasses, malt, and smoke. Not so much smoke in the taste, but lots of malt, cocoa, and earthiness. Lighter than expected mouthfeel for a winter, but then I see it is actually an Oktoberfest. Dry finish. Never know what you can find at BevMo.

I enjoy dark beers that are muted in flavor. It has something to do with the smoke. Smoke can really turn me off on a beer and this beer is a well balanced low-flavor beer.

Now, when I say muted I don't mean to say it in a bad way. I'm just saying that I don't notice excessive hops, cloves, bananas, prunes, citrus, deep smoke or anything else done in mass quantities. There are complex flavors going on with this beer (coffee, caramel, toffee, malts) but no single thing disrupts the whole.

500ml flip-top bottle poured into a my large Gulden Draak tulip, Jubelfestbier is a near pitch black garnet with a khaki head that leaves pretty heavy lace.

Smell is fruity and rich, a bit of smoke, a lot like an old ale or wee heavy, but more restrained and rounded. I didn't notice this was from Bamberg until the aroma hit me on the pour, but I've been really digging smoked beers lately, and this was a very pleasant surprise!

Taste is great, this is basically a rauchbier, so dark it's porter like, rich chocolate and raisin notes, the smoke is obvious but not overwhelming, and overall it's very smooth and rich, wow! There is a little lactose like sweetness on the clean finish.

Mouthfeel is very smooth and lighter body, reminiscent of the best made oatmeal stouts.

Drinkability is high, wow, a great beer I never heard of and randomly grabbed - I'm shocked how good this is, much investigate the rest of the brewery pronto! At $4.50 a pint, it could be cheaper, but it's nevertheless world class.

17oz flip-top picked up yesterday at Erickson's in Eagle for a pricey $6... poured into my shaped SA glass.

2 finger creamy looking off white head... brews is dark walnut... deep clear mahogany when held to a light.

Aroma is dark grains... not burnt... just dark malts with a touch of lite roast coffee.

Flavor mirrors the aroma.. but not quite as rich... dark.. but not much else going on.... there palate is mainly very toasted munch malt and subtle coffee... finish is fairly long though... body is light and the carbonation is smooth.

Overall... this brew is by no means a Marzen... not even close... more like a big-boned dunkel.. or a lighter tasting schwarzbier.... it is NOT an octoberfest style.

Pours very dark brown, even black, with a bubbly, fizzy head that slowly descends and vanishes. Never saw such a dark O-fest. No lacing sticks.

The smell is of caramel/toffee with a hint of roast. A sweet schwarzbier comes to mind. A bland, late bitterness comes in in the finish to cut into the sweetness, though some residual sweetness clings to lips and palate.

Thin - a bit watery - towards falling apart. Carbonation is uneven, mild, and loses even more as it progresses.

Pretty drinkable for a beer that didn't thrill me at all. Probably that it's just bland rather than offensive. Well, the black characteristics puts this one out of style of a marzen/o-fest. So if you're looking for a tradition interpretation, this isn't it. Even out of style, it didn't really do much for me. A blandish maltiness with a hint of roast and a slight bland bitterness is pretty much it. Maltiness almost breaks beyond blandish, but not quite enough, to me. Overall, though -

Single, 1 pint, .9 fl oz, swing-top bottle just purchased from Buy Rite on Oak Tree in South Plainfield...Deep-brown, dark-maroon hue with an immense foamy head that left a thick, frosty layer of lacing around the edge of the serving glass...Mild aroma replete with figs and prunes...Hints of dark toffee, caramel cream, dates, rich malts, figs, and dehydrated fruits were present on the tongue... Overall, an excellent, subtle, flavorful sample...Great creamy, rich mouthfeel along with a superb level of easy drinkability to match..Top-notch stuff...Recommended...

Pours a Rosewood color with ruby edges. A creamy loose 1/2" light khaki head sits steady and slowly diminishes to 1/4" within a couple minutes. Delicate but thorough rings of lace all the way down.

The nose is pure malt bliss. Toffee, chocolate, malted milk powder and vanilla nougat steadily emanate from this brew. The roasted malts smell very well rounded and soft - not at all burnt or acrid. There are some lush dark fruits in the background also.

The flavor of this is not as complex or 'deep' as the nose. But that's OK because the nose was reminiscent of what are usually to be the beginnings of a great porter (or even a stout!). The taste of shoe leather sits shotgun while gently roasted malts caress the tongue. A delicate flavor of smoke is detectable up front (in great Bamberg fashion, I might add) but slips behind the malty curtain after a couple seconds.

Mouthfeel is soft, creamy and low carbonated. The body is a bit on the lighter side of medium and the finish is ultra clean.

Drinkability is good. The beer is so cask-like that it doesn't bloat the belly whatsoever. The flavors are very unintrusive and would compliment many types of shellfish and BBQ.

Overall a very graceful and well-rounded dark lager. A stately Kostritzer if you will. I'm afraid people who don't realize how difficult it is to produce such a subtle and 'quiet' beer such as this will give it low marks. The WOW factor on this one lies in the details. Very flavorful, but doesn't steal the show. Nice malt complexity but doesn't coat the tongue. Mahr's really did a great job with this beer.

500 ml bottle, a gift over the 2007 holidays, finally cleaning out the Holiday beer in early March 2008 (I guess I'm a bit behind!).

Pours a deep rich brown with ruby highlights, not at all typical of the Marzen/Octoberfest style identified here on BA. I am not up to speed on German styles, so I can't say what it is, but I think I know what it's not. Maybe more like a Schwarzbier? A minimal foamy head dies away quickly, with a complete lack of carbonation.

Aroma of roasty, peaty malts. A hint of bitter chocolate and coffee. The flavor continues the trend, with the coffee and almost espresso bitterness dancing in the dark. Spice notes and a very astringent ending on the tongue finish this one off.

A farily creamy mouthfeel surprises me- wasn't expecting that, but it helps make this more drinkable.

Overall, I have to admit, this just isn't really my style (excuse the pun). I guess it's OK, nothing specific I can fault, but it's just not grabbing me at my center of beerdom.

Poured from a .5L sing top bottle to a pint glass, the liquid is a very dark brown to black with good carbonation. The head is 2 finger dark tan fades fast leaving plenty of lace.

The smell is sweetened dark fruits on fresh dark bread & a hint of alcohol.

The taste follows follows, Dark roasted malt with coffee, chocolate and dark fruit noted. The brew is very rich and very good tasting. The complexity is wonderful and the full flavors not just hints and notes make this a must try brew.

The mouthfeel is a bit of when considering the full flavors here you just expect the beer to be of full body. The body is medium but in line with the Marzen style and the carbonation id very good, Prehaps this brew would be higher rated as a schwartz Bier.

The drinkability is great, truly a brew I could drink a lot of every day.

T - Starts out much like a marzen, with carmel malt and anise like sweetness. Were it differs is that when most marzens either give way to spice from the alcohol, or just die, this beer focuses on bitter coffee flavors, with some light fruits (melon?) mixed in. Interesting, a nice change of pace.

M - Creamy and full in the mouth, so good, this is just what I want in a marzen.

D - Wish this was less expensive, but it's soo good, I could drink this all night.

Poured a very dark brown with a ruby tint if held up to bright light. No head whatsoever and no lacing or sign of carbonation at all either. It just looked like a glass of flat dark brown cola. Not very inviting.

Smelled of coffee and alcohol, with perhaps some bread as well. The alcohol presence seemed to lessen as the beer warmed.

Tasted a lot like coffee with liquor mixed in. Again, some breadiness but not much else going on.

Mouthfeel was semi thick, and again with no sign of carbonation. Not very exciting.

I'd probably rate this beer lower in drinkability if I were the only one drinking it. As mentioned I don't like coffee so this beer just wasn't my cup of ... er, coffee. For those who do however I guess this might be a beer worth at least a try. I was bit surprised how much I tasted the alcohol, as the ABV was pretty low. All in all, I wasn't impressed with this beer. I won't be revisiting this one.